Five delightful things: April 2026
In no particular order, five especially relevant, spring delights.
Image: Warp by Nick Fancher
1: 🕯️ Spring = dark mode? #amembersonlyclub
You might have noted the 3 (?!) years between this 5 Things post and the last. Have I been in a log cabin, ruminating; writing gothic poetry in dark mode in response to my own life chaos & overwhelm? I’d love to say I was that cool and intentional. So, let’s say I was.
I’m not alone in craving a log cabin, lately. The world has gone crazy (crazier?). I have it on good authority that certain global support systems are not faring well for the long haul. We’ve lost track of ai. And trendy trends. And each other.
Feels like the perfect time for underground fun. Find unexpected friends. Invite them to the basement.
It’s safe down there.
Right?
Rave resurrection, anyone? It’s not bleedingly new, but I’ve noticed it seeping into my close circles, lately. Really feeling a no press allowed, members-only flex space or a good ol’ reenactment of the blood bath scene in Blade. Even the sleepy, wine-soaked hills of Napa, California has a regular, invite only soirée (which I will keep secret, thanks).
Image: Bugonia poster by designer Vasilis Marmatakis for Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia
2: 🛸 Get gooey #retrofutureistheonlyfuture
It might be because #war seems to be the new black, but does it feel to anyone else like we are reliving the late 60’s? There is good news: Art thrives between global instability, technologic obsession, and emotional overwhelm.
Body horror has been uptrending in film, fashion, and architecture for a few years, but with the release of Begonia in October 2025: well.
Let’s. Start. The. Party.
Mashing up the grotesque with retro-future-magic and a nuanced Female-lead felt new, but not unfamiliar. The Substance (2024) and Suspiria (1977, 2018) nauseatingly picked at female aging. The Frankenstein craze (Poor Things [2023], Bride [2025] ) mirrors women’s AI anxiety being replaced. Through this uptick in female-lead Art Gore,we get periods in the form of blood baths and multi-tasking as monstrous additional appendages.
Where other’s have been thought-provoking and pretty. Bugonia gave me feels. I watched it on a flight and ugly cried after ugly laughing. The film’s conclusion, while slightly predictable, was so delightfully gratifying that I wanted to rewatch it *in whole* immediately. Ms. Fuller is both a villain and a… ? CEO? Anti-hero? No clean, dated dichotomy can be drawn. Through her antihistamine-cream-drenched eyes, we see an unflinching glimpse at the absurd ambiguity of life where we are all both main character energy and invisible villain.
Image: Conner Ives FW 2026/7 Look 1 robe, back view
3: 🦔 We love a robe #onwednesdayswewearrobes
Spring isn’t summer. Sorry about your luck, spring.
But it does offer better robe-wearing-options. Not that robes ever require a purpose. Or a season.
Whether it’s a lingerie dressing peignoir, a cotton caftan, a dressing gown, or a vintage silk mens house robe: it’s a cozy hug 100% of the time. They do more hard-hitting, style strategy work than a good nights’ rest ever could.
Cold? Then head over to the hygge land of cardigans a lá Hayes Campbell, buy-once-keep-always overcoats, or ridiculously long mens coats.
Otherpeoplesclothes
Conner Ives FW 2026/7 or find on the RealReal
4: 🩰 Ballet as the bad boy of culture #rebelagainstthehumanbody
Ballet has come under cultural scrutiny lately from new broadcasters we might not care about and pretty boys we might.
As a former ballet dancer, let me settle this once and for all: it’s never been relevant! Ballet has (almost) always been elitist, culturally disconnected, and quite obviously anti-the-human-body.
This could be the time to tell the romantic origin story of a charming Italian meeting the French Sun King, birthing the Ballet phenomenon. Or the one about the russian-trained choreographer who moved to New York and blew up traditional ballet rules (along with the rules of what the human body is capable of) to create a new vision of American ballet. Maybe the story of the rebellious British-trained, tattoo bathed bad boy that achieved rock star status as global model & muse? As in all art forms, there are classical rule followers and bright new rebels*.
For those only exposed to the Nutcracker at Christmas, the sport feels repetitive, old-fashioned, and maybe not all that physically hard. After all, how hard can it be if everyone’s smiling while they do it?? Sprinters don’t smile. F1 drivers don’t smile.
Ballet is rooted in unattainability. Historically. But relevance can still be achieved. Exhibit A: Wayne McGregor. Like all black and white thinking, the grey is juicier, but takes work to see.
*I’m presently following one such bright new rebel around the world, viewing every work in a different city. Like a global ballet pub crawl.
Image: Sweets in space image c/o NASA
5: 🌓 Please, NASA, tell me I can live on the moon #delightedbynutella
It’s funny that one of the most optimistic stories these days comes from a drive-by of something we see every single night.
I see the moon and the moon sees me.
Confession: I love astronomy. Always have. One of best Christmas gifts I’ve ever received is my (kind of shitty, but well loved) telescope. I can’t see much beyond what my eyes can already, but the detail is better-enough that it’s endlessly delightful. The Artemis II Live Watch has been playing steadily at mine.
Hot takes are all around us! Did you hear the astronauts playfully romantic descriptions of what they saw? (Snow dusted peaks, pin-dot holes punched through a lampshade…) Or that adorbs Nutella surfing its way through zero-G like a space star?! Just in time to lift my spring spirits.
Look ahead to the NASA up-trending product, space-themed everything, and Nutella marketing capitalization.
If my cat’s name wasn’t already Dracula, Prince of Darkness, I’d name him Orion.